Reverend Marci Scott-Weis, MDIV
Well friends, today we turn to Earth in our natural world for our spiritual lessons and meditations. Now many who have grown up in the Pacific Northwest, know exactly where you were on May 18th, 1980, when Mt. St. Helens erupted. I was a kid in Michigan and even there I remember that day!
That eruption was one of the most destructive volcanic events in United States history. The lateral blast and subsequent flows of ash and earth devastated over 230 square miles of forests, leveling trees and infrastructure in their path. The immense energy released during the eruption generated a towering ash plume that ascended thousands of feet into the atmosphere. The ecosystem in the surrounding area was destroyed.
About four years ago, Jasper and I took a camping and hiking trip down to Mount St. Helens, my first time visiting the area. Seeing the blast zone and the crater, even some 45 years later was jaw dropping. But what was even more amazing was witnessing all of the signs of recovery. On that trip, we learned that the story of Mount St. Helens is not only one of destruction, but it is also a story of renewal, rejuvenation, and resilience. We learned that Mount St. Helens is also a story of healing and of transformation.
Currently down at Mount St. Helens, lush forests have reclaimed much of the once-barren landscape, showing off how the earth has been able to rebound and thrive. And a whole variety of species have returned or have adapted to the changed ecosystems in the blast zone and are demonstrating a resurgence of life. As we hiked, we witnessed this powerful testament to the resilience of the earth and the intricate balance of nature’s processes. We got to see the mountain’s recovery up close. We got to give witness to renewal, healing and transformation in the face of a catastrophic event. We got to give witness to new creation! It left us in a state of awe and reverence.
That recovery that we witnessed was four decades post eruption. It did not happen overnight. The original destruction was devastating, and you can still witness the scars of that devastation as you look into the crater. But the wounds caused by that massive eruption also revealed something deeply profound about the earth.
The earth did not ask permission to heal, it simply did. The earth did not ask permission to adapt, it simply did. Even after the most devastating of natural events, the earth found a way to restore and heal, the earth found a way to continue the cycle of life. New life sprang up in the mineral-rich ash. Small at first, pioneer species prepared fertile volcanic soil for other plants. Eventually, thriving forests and fields grew where there was once only destruction. Something new emerged.
Now, the mountain and the surrounding areas down at Mount St. Helens are different from what they were before the eruption. But in many ways, I think that it is actually kind of more beautiful than it was before the eruption. Why? Because the scars that the earth carries at Mount St. Helens are a reminder of its strength and an indication of its resiliency. Those scars are a witness to the earth’s ability to heal, to adapt to radical change, and to transform into a new creation.
The spiritual lessons that the earth offers to us from the example of the devastating eruption and subsequent recovery at Mount St. Helens are plentiful! So, what can the earth teach us from that blast zone?
Well, none of us are exempt from eruptions in our own lives, from tragedies or heartaches. Eventually, our lives will all be touched by these things. Sorrow comes into all of our lives, and we will all experience devastation, as well as disappointments, letdowns and heartbreaks. We will all experience those times when the earth itself seems to shift beneath our feet and everything changes. We will all experience our own eruptions and subsequent destruction and devastation in the blast zone. Many of us already have and some of us are in the middle of ongoing violent eruptions right now.
But if we look to the story of Mount St. Helens, we can probably find some spiritual lessons about managing the volcanic blasts, the really hard things, in our own lives. And we can start by recognizing that there was nothing easy or painless about the eruption at Mount St. Helens. It was shocking, it was destructive, it was devastating. That eruption was an enormous wound upon the earth. And it is taking time for the recovery of those wounds to occur, it is not happening overnight, healing and transformation cannot be rushed.
Years ago, I came across this saying, ‘God is in the wound, God heals the wound, God transforms the wound.’ It is a saying that I draw deep comfort and meaning from and I’ve found truth in those words in so many of my own sacred stories of wounding, recovery and transformation. ‘God is in the wound, God heals the wound, God transforms the wound.’
If we look to Mount St. Helens’ wounds and the devastation of that initial eruption, we can recognize that God did not create that wound; that destruction did not have a purpose. And similarly, in our own lives, our own eruptions and hard times are not created by God and do not have purpose. Bad things happen and they often happen to particularly good people. There is no simple answer for why those things happen.
That being said, I can look at my own life and recognize that when I have experienced the unthinkable and known deep sorrow and pain, known the biggest of wounds, that something always emerged out of that painful time, something that was both wholly unanticipated and radically beautiful. When I look at the images of Mount St. Helens, I can see something wholly unanticipated and radically beautiful also emerging out of those wounds. That does not mean that wounds and the suffering they cause have purpose, it just means that sometimes it is possible to discover or uncover purpose or meaning in the suffering caused by the wounds.
What I can also see from the healing and transformation at Mount St. Helens and from my own life, is what God promises in the face of great wounds. And that is presence. God is present with us in all wounds. We are not alone. From the wounds caused by the volcanic eruptions in our lives, the bad things happening, God responds and says, I am here. I am here. I am here.
When we face those eruptions in our lives, we have to believe in that presence. We have to believe in that presence in such a way that we can never step outside of it, no matter what is facing us. We have to rest in that presence. We have to abide in that presence. And we have to let that presence renew our souls. From the wound, God responds and says, I am here. I am here. I am here
And not just in that moment of wounding but also in the healing and transformation of the wound, God is present. Again, God does not cause bad situations but instead God is working within those eruptions, those hard times, those subsequent wounds, leading us towards healing and transformation. Albeit, often in a way that is wholly unanticipated and often not what we may have thought we wanted or needed but God is in the wound, healing and transforming the wound. Out of pain and sorrow, something new is born. Something new emerges.
And just like at Mount St. Helens, we are not the same after the eruptions. Life is not the same after the eruptions. Transformation often NEVER looks like what we imagined or what we assumed or for what we often hoped for. But just like at Mount St. Helens, we are often in many ways, more beautiful than we were before the eruptions in our lives, before the devastation. The scars at Mount St. Helens and the ones that the we carry are a reminder of strength and resilience and a witness to the presence of God and God’s call into transformation, but always…. transformation on God’s terms.
The storm will come; the volcano will erupt. The earth teaches us that that even in the darkest of those times, life finds a way to push through, to grow, to transform, to rise again, forever changed. The earth teaches us that even in the face of great loss, there is always the possibility of renewal, of healing, and of hope.
Thanks be to the earth!
Thanks be to God!
Amen
